[turpija]

here is fairly small machine intended to be mounted on table
outer dimensions will be about 1x1x1m
and working area is somewhere around 700x700x200mm or slightly bigger than 2x2'

here is visualization from solidworks, missing spindle with mount and table (which hopefully will be a vacuum table sometime in future)


got some metal cut


bevel it a bit


and start cleaning


nice and shiny


parts cut with waterjet


...also needs cleaning


a little bit of assembly


and alot of drilling


this is how lower part should look like, just needs some holes and tapering


next thing on menu will be welding ... so stay tuned

there is a bit more pictures on my website if you wish to take a look ...

[HorridHenry]

I thought mine would be heavy when built but yous must weigh at least 50/60 kilo's?

[louieatienza]

Nice work!

[harryn]

Thanks for posting your build. I looked at your blog and saw the anti - corrosion liquid bath with antikor. There is a company in Belgrade in the anti-corrosion business, but not a lot of information on the liquid itself. Do you happen to know what it is ?

It looks like it both cleans and imparts a rust resisant surface to the steel ?

When I was younger, I used some stuff called "naval jelly" which contains H3PO4 / phosphoric acid. I wonder if this is similar ?

What size tubing are you using ?

Nice work,

Harry

[brucer]

are you planning on tig welding it?

[HorridHenry]

The better brand in the UK is....
Liquid Engineering UK - Corro Dip

[HorridHenry]

Phosphoric acid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[turpija]

Only that bottom table weight around 30kg..

There is phosporic acid in antikor, but i don't know what else

As i have co2 mig welder, that's what i'll weld if with
Need to figure out a strategy how to avoid warpage

[Phife]

Are those rails supported or unsupported? what do you plan on machining with this machine?

[HorridHenry]

Need to figure out a strategy how to avoid warpage

Corner tack then weld the top pieces,by the time you have finished the top welds they will have cooled, turn it over and do the bottom welds, then side welds.

Keeping the welds cool in between welds helps and you have done the right thing by chamfering the edges,only a qualified welder can reduce warpage in their experience,there will be some warpage but only slight if methodically welded.

[PaulRowntree]

Keeping the welds cool in between welds helps and you have done the right thing by chamfering the edges,only a qualified welder can reduce warpage in their experience,there will be some warpage but only slight if methodically welded.

HH : How does the chamfer reduce warping?

[HorridHenry]

HH : How does the chamfer reduce warping?

Did I say it will help reduce warpage? the job he's tackling needs to be clamped down solid if he's not going to lift one of the pieces slightly at one end to account for the metal cooling and contracting back into a straight plane.

The thing about welding is keeping the weld cool where/whenever possible and thats why its best to increment weld.

[PaulRowntree]

Did I say it will help reduce warpage? the job he's tackling needs to be clamped down solid if he's not going to lift one of the pieces slightly at one end to account for the metal cooling and contracting back into a straight plane.

The thing about welding is keeping the weld cool where/whenever possible and thats why its best to increment weld.

OK, let me rephrase. What are the benefits of chamfering ?

[turpija]

rails will be supported, but might deviate from original idea (which was to use some triangular spacers for achieve same distance over whole length of rail)
which might prove bad way to go if tubes are not flat enough

original design



and use bolts with few nuts to get correct height of both rails at what ever point needed ... will see how this goes ...

something like this


main purpose of machine is for plastics and possibly aluminum, but testing will prove actual capabilities ...

chamfer should enable weld to penetrate deeper if you have lower powered welder (like myself), and also help not to get too much of "bump" above line of tube ... so less grinding required if you wish to keep flat surface ...

yes, idea is to get everything as square and level as possible than carefully tack weld each tube at 3 or more spots, and if nothing is out of shape, start welding small beads as far as possible from each other, to keep it cool as possible

btw all tubes are 50x50x3 mm and metal sheets are 4mm thick, except few bigger ones that goes on Z axis which are 6mm

[PaulRowntree]

chamfer should enable weld to penetrate deeper if you have lower powered welder (like myself), and also help not to get too much of "bump" above line of tube ... so less grinding required if you wish to keep flat surface ...

Thanks for the welding tip turpija!

[TechGuy5002]

Better off going with commercial machined rails and using shimes underneath to control height. I think you end up wasting hours and hours trying to adjust your rails and still have issues causing flexing and inaccuracies.

With your new design you will need two nuts. If you apply a nut at the top of the square tube, there will be slack between bolt head and the nut permitting movement (up). In your original design the bolt head was applying force to the rail. You also introduce horizontal flex movement without the triangle wedges that would divert horizontal forces into tube frame.

[louieatienza]

Another idea would be to use metal saddle washers, then you could just shim the washers.

However, I do have to agree that it might be easier to buy the supported rail, and more accurate as well...

[turpija]

I am planing to use one nut underneath the square tube (actual bolt will be longer and head will serve only to tighten screw into rail), but i have same concern avout horizontal flex... Do you have any better idea hoe to keep adjustable height and add additional support ? I'm pretty much out of inspiration ... And yes, commercial supported rails are a better solution, and are also out of my budget

[turpija]

let's the welding begins !
or tacking actually ...

first, main frame


then, everything between



and done


same technique used on those




pile of metal starting to look like something


next on menu is a deep breath and fully welding all the pieces ...

[RTP_Burnsville]

It looks like you are well on your way to having a nice machine....

Robert